Nissan Micra engine mods help

[Kage]

Hey all

I'm new here.

I have a Nissan Micra Tempest (The T dropped off so its an empest) which is a 1.0l 2002 spec. It has only done 10,500 miles as well, and got it for £1200 last year. I've only just really started driving it since passing my test, and it passed the MOT no problem, and had a full service along side.

It's pretty whippy, especially for my first car, and have learned ways to push it in lower gears, so it starts off the line pretty damn quick, and gets to 40 (max speed limit really around here apart from dual carriage ways/motorways) without much hesitation. I love to hear that engine grunt as it's trying its best to get to speed.

I've been reading up a lot about modifications I can do to it though to make it slightly better at acceleration. i.e changing the stock air filter/changing the exhaust, which would also make it sound slightly better too without coming across like some boy racer (I'm honestly not)

What other things can I do? I'm new to this kind of thing, but would really like some opinions on possible things that wouldn't be too expensive to carry out
Probably don't even need to do it, but it'd be a nice project, and would make it more personalized for myself.

I know of these things so far, but not sure how much they cost/how easy they are to fit (I probably wouldn't be able to do most myself)

Adding 1.3 cams,
Adding a new air filter,
1st decat?... 2nd decat?... (Have no idea what that is to be honest except its something to do with the exhaust),
?

Fitting some new LEDs would be a nice little feature too

It still has a tape deck!!! So I may make another thread regarding a stereo system/speaker set up that would provide excellent sound for a good price, and what sort of speakers I could get for such a car.

Only issue is that I'd probably have to wait a year to make any major mods. Within my Insurance, I didn't say I was going to mod it.

Thanks all

 

[sr20bud]

you can do loads to it mate :grinning: ill let someone post a list up tho. take the stock filter out and air box top off on a sunny winter day and it will sound aggressive as hell but don't leave it off all the time :laugh:

 

[Kage]

Thanks for the reply

Yeah, I can imagine there are loads of things you can do.

What got me started, was a mate at work showed me the air filter he had fitted in his Nova, and it got me thinking to be honest.
He asked me to open the bonnet up, and he un-clipped the air filter lid, and took out the filter and asked me to rev the engine. To be honest though, at least from inside the car I couldn't tell a difference, if any. Probably would be if moving though?

I put it straight back though, because I know that having it off can do damage as dust,etc can get straight in.

Not really thinking I'm going to get many more horse powers from any mods I do, but a bit wouldn't hurt.

I think the 1.0 has 55bhp? Something like that?

Another question, do these mods improve or increase petrol consumption?

 

[frank]

hi kage, the post 2000 models only have the 1 cat (and a slightly different mani and downpipe), and they have 60hp apparently :grinning:
the cams are worth changing, but i doubt if a different filter setup will give any gains on a 1.0 tbh

 

[Kage]

Hey Frank, thanks for the post

What is a decat for example? An easier path out?

What performance gains would I get from a new cam set up? Would this change petrol consumption at all?

Does the air filter affect petrol consumption? I can imagine changing the air filter to an air induction filter would at least improve the sound of the engine? (Not that it sounds bad by all means)

I'm kind of proud of my car now I've ran it a bit and have been getting used to it. I just want to make it slightly more personal.
It certainly needs new speakers/cd player for sure.

I know of one simple mod I could do, and that would be adding new LED's on the dash

 

[frank]

you could smash the core out of your cat, or fit a tubular manifold kage.
and the cams wont effect your fuel if you drive it the same as before, and about 5hp from the inlet cam (gains from the exhaust cam are debatable imo)

 

[Kage]

65bhp, haha, woooooo

I'm new to all this so at the moment I'm not sure on how to do anything car wise.
It's a shame garages don't let you watch them doing something. It was the way I first learned to build a PC.

Thanks again Frank